A scanner system may be used to form an image by scanning exposure. Various practical scanner system recording apparatus are known. A glow lamp, xenone lamp, mercury lamp, tungsten lamp or light-emitting diode has heretofore been used as a light source for the apparatus. However, these light source are disadvantageous in practical use, as the output power is weak and the life of the light source is short. In order to overcome these drawbacks, use of a coherent laser source, such as Ne-He laser, argon laser, He-Cd laser or the like gas laser or semiconductor laser, as a light source for a scanner system recording apparatus, has hitherto been proposed.
However, gas lasers also have some drawbacks. The device is large-scaled and expensive, and requires a modulating means.
On the other hand, the device for generating a semiconductor laser is advantageously small-sized and inexpensive and can be easily modulated. Further, the operating life of a semiconductor laser is longer than that of a gas laser. The wavelength of the light emitted from the semiconductor laser is mainly in the infrared range, and therefore, photographic materials to be exposed with a semiconductor laser preferably have a high sensitivity in the infrared range. However, such infrared-sensitive photographic materials have poor storage properties because the infrared sensitizing dye therein is unstable, and the manufacture and handling of such materials is therefore difficult. Thus, a method of forming an image by means of a scanning exposure of a silver halide photographic material spectrally sensitized with a stable spectral sensitizing dye functioning in the visible range, while the merits of the semiconductor are kept, has been desired.
As one example of such a method, JP-A-63-113534 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application") illustrates a method of using, as a light source, the secondary higher harmonics obtained by the combination of a laser and a wavelength-converting element made of a nonlinear optical material. However, the use of such a light source is considerably restricted. Specifically, the wavelength range of the secondary higher harmonics thus obtained is limited since the usable wavelength range of the laser is limited. Therefore, a wavelength that is most favorable from the viewpoint of color reproducibility cannot be selected.
In order to overcome the above problem, JP-A-63-8345 has proposed a method of using silver halide grains having a high silver chloride content in the green-sensitive and red-sensitive layer of the photo graphic material.
Further, silver halide grains having a high silver chloride content are desirable for rapid processability of photographic materials.
On the other hand, the addition of benzyl alcohol to color developing solutions has widely been utilized for the purpose of accelerating coloration of photographic materials. However, since benzyl alcohol and solvents thereof, such as diethylene glycol, triethylene glycol and alkanolamines, have high BOD and COD values (environmental pollution load values), benzyl alcohol is desirably not used in the color developer for the purpose of minimizing the environmental pollution load. In addition, reduction of the replenisher amount to the color developer is also highly desirable from the view point of economization of natural resources and the prevention of environmental pollution. Means of reducing color developer replenisher amount have been proposed in JP A-61-70522 and JP-A-63-106655.
In view of the above-noted demand, the present inventors have endeavored to perfect a method of exposing a color photographic material containing silver chloride rich silver halide grains by a scanning exposure and thereafter continuously processing the exposed material with a color developer substantially not containing benzyl alcohol, and using a reduced amount of replenisher thereto. As a result, the present inventors have found that the photographic properties of the thus processed materials noticeably vary between the material processed at the beginning of the continuous process and the material processed at the end thereof. The variation in photographic properties impairs the quality of finished color prints. The present inventors have also found that the extent of variation depends on the amount of the color development replenisher used in continuous processing. In particular, variation of the photographic properties was found to be extremely noticeable in color photographic materials containing a silver chloride-rich surface latent image-type emulsion.
On the other hand, a silver chloride-rich silver halide emulsion is known to be easily fogged. In addition, it is also known that conventional chemical sensitization hardly imparts high sensitivity to such emulsions and that reciprocity law failure often occurs. Thus, the sensitivity and gradation varies considerably with the exposure intensity. That is, the use of silver chloride-rich silver halide emulsions are known to have the above-noted shortcomings. In order to overcome the drawbacks, various techniques have heretofore been proposed.
For example, JP-A-58-95736, JP-A-58-108533, JP-A-60 222844 and JP-A-60-222845 describe a structure of a composite silver halide grain having a silver bromide-rich layer. JP-A-51-139323 and JP-A-59-171947 and British Patent 2,109,576A describe the incorporation of a compound of a metal of Group VIII of the Periodic Table into the silver halide grains.
In particular, incorporation of a rhodium compound or an iridium compound into the silver halide grains is disclosed in JP-B-49-33781 (the term "JP-B" as used herein means an "examined Japanese patent publication") and JP-A-50 23618, JP-A-52-18310, JP-A 56-125734, JP-A-58-15952, JP-A-59-214028, JP-A 61-47941 and JP A-61-67845, West German Patent Application (OLS) Nos. 2,226,877 and 2,708,466 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,703,584.
However, none of the above publications recognize the problem of variation in the photographic properties of the photographic material as exposed by means of a high intensity scanning exposure source as described above, and thereafter continuously processed with a color development system substantially not containing benzyl alcohol, using a reduced amount of replenisher.
In order to overcome the above-noted problems, the present inventors have found that the incorporation of a certain type of metal ion into the silver chlorobromide grains of the photographic material overcomes the problems, thus resulting in the present invention.